New ‘Constantine’ TV Show Pilot Details

NBC is hard at work on its upcoming supernatural detective TV show Constantine, based on the DC comic book of the same name (though it’s previously been titled Hellblazer). Most recently, we saw the first image of Matt Ryan (Assassin’s Creed 4: Black Flag) as the titular character, and frankly – it looked pretty darn good.Now, the script for the pilot has apparently leaked, and with it we’ve got all new information about the plot details and characters we can expect to meet in the very first episode. Obviously, that means there will be SPOILERS. If you’re not at all interested in learning about the Constantine TV show particulars this far ahead of the game, do not click on the link below.

At the beginning of the first episode, Constantine has checked himself into a psychiatric institution after witnessing a 9-year-old girl have her soul taken to hell by a demon. When he checks himself out, he’s been there for six months.

In the TV version of Constantine, Papa Midnite will be Cuban instead of Jamaican. Apparently, he can “dream the future” and when we meet him, he’s “doing a lot of cocaine because he has to stay awake.” For what reason? It doesn’t say. Though we do know that Midnite will be the primary villain of the show – for at least the first season.

A regular girl named Liv Parsons – seemingly a vehicle to help viewers understand this supernatural world – discovers that something nefarious is coming for her. She teams up with Constantine, who used to be friends with her dead father and owes him a debt. Their team-up will apparently form the basis of the show.

Constantine has an angel named Manny “assigned” to him to “help ease his soul into damnation.” Which seemingly confirms that his background will be similar to that of his comic book counterpart. In the comics, Constantine stopped a demon from taking the soul of a dying friend. For this, the demon promised to send Constantine to hell when he died.

In the first episode, we’ll see all kinds of supernatural craziness, including “possessions, ghosts […] and demons.”

We’ll also meet “Chaz” – Constatine’s driver – a “tall, sensitive, quiet type” with a lot of knowledge about the supernatural. In the comics, his name is “Chas” Chandler, who was previously played by Shia LaBeouf in the 2005 Keanu Reeves film.

And now for the most important thing: Constantine won’t be wearing his famous trenchcoat…at first. But he will eventually. So don’t get too up-in-arms.

Shock Till You Drop’s Ryan Turek also indicates that the script gives off major Sleepy Hollow (as in, the Fox TV show) vibes, and that it needs to do more “story-wise” to differentiate itself from that show and Supernatural. While nobody wants a ripoff of those shows, I can’t help but think I’d be pretty happy if NBC made a Constantine series as good as either of them at their best.

Questions about the series, of course, still remain: Will John Constantine smoke, which is pretty integral to the character’s story? (In the comics, he gets cancer and has to figure out some way to avoid dying and going to hell.) Will he run into any other DC characters – perhaps Zatanna, his once-girlfriend from the comics? Will the series crossover with other DC comic book TV shows like Arrow, The Flash, and Gotham? We’ll have to wait for the show to air to find out…though that last one seems most unlikely.

What say you, Screen Ranters? Do the details of the pilot sound good to you? Are you looking forward to seeing John Constantine on the small screen for the first time? Drop us a line in the comments.